House Passes Budget With Big Cuts

Thursday

Apr 10, 2014 at 10:25 PM

By ANDREW TAYLORThe Associated Press

WASHINGTON | House Republicans rallied behind a slashing budget blueprint Thursday, passing a nonbinding but politically imposing measure that promises a balanced federal ledger in 10 years with sweeping budget cuts and termination of health care coverage under the Affordable Care Act. The 219-205 vote on the budget outline takes a mostly symbolic swipe at the government's chronic deficits. Twelve Republicans opposed the measure, and not a single Democrat supported it. (Republican Florida Reps. Tom Rooney, Daniel Webster and Dennis Ross voted in favor of the measure. Democratic Rep. Alan Grayson voted against it.)The measure passed after a three-day debate that again exposed the hugely varying visions of the rival parties for the nation's fiscal future. Republicans promised a balanced budget by 2024 but would do so at the expense of poor people and seniors on Medicaid, lower-income workers receiving "Obamacare" subsidies, and people receiving food stamps and Pell Grants. Democrats countered with a plan that would leave Obama's health care plan and rapidly growing health programs like Medicare intact, relying on $1.5 trillion in tax hikes over the coming decade to bring deficits down to sustainable but still-large levels in the $600 billion range. The GOP plan, by Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., would cut more than $5 trillion over the coming decade to reach balance by 2024, relying on sharp cuts to domestic programs, but leaving Social Security untouched and shifting more money to the Pentagon and health care for veterans. It reprises a controversial plan to shift future retirees away from traditional Medicare and toward a subsidy-based health insurance option on the open market. Republicans say the cuts would strengthen the economy.